Winners & Losers
by maryaun
Summary: Gail and Holly lose at trivia. From the tumblr prompt "hold my hand."


"You know the rules, Gail," Dov couldn't help but drill it home. After watching his girlfriend walk out the front door of The Penny he sat back down and chugged the rest of his drink before sliding the empty glass into the middle of the table, eyeballing Gail as he waited for her bruising retort.

Even though Gail was desperate to wipe that smug look off his face she somehow managed to resist. _Not in front of Holly,_ she silently reprimanded herself. Instead she rolled her eyes in Holly's direction hoping for some sort of mutual commiseration for each others impending misery but alas didn't get it.

Thoroughly amused by this whole situation, Holly just shrugged and shot Gail a cheeky grin.

Gail slumped down even further into her seat mumbling obscenities. She curled her shoulders inward, hunching over until they had crept up to her ears. There was no way she was ever going to be able to play this off cool. Tomorrow was going to be painfully awkward, most likely for both of them.

Positively beaming now, Dov turned to Holly in the seat next to him, "Sorry Doc, looks like you're going to be stuck with her on your day off tomorrow," he grinned while Gail buried her face beneath her own sweater.

It's not like Holly was going to protest to spending more time with Gail. She enjoyed her company. A little too much in fact, and regardless of the outcome here tonight she had always planned on asking Gail to hang out tomorrow anyway, but at least now she got to watch Gail squirm all day long while at the same time testing a theory she had come up with a few weeks ago.

"How are you going to even know if we follow through or not?" Gail popped her head back out from underneath her sweater.

"Unlike you, Gail, the doc strikes me as someone who won't renege on a bet. Plus, she has an honest face."

"This face?" Holly laughed pointing to her own cheek, which now felt flushed.

"I'm a cop. I am very good at reading people," Dov insisted and Holly looked to Gail for confirmation. Even Gail couldn't begrudge the dork of that, so she nodded, but not without poking her tongue out, disgusted at herself for being so agreeable.

"By the way, this is entirely your fault, Hol. I mean, I thought you were supposed to be smart?" Gail sat up, acting affronted. She raised her eyebrows, eager to hear Holly's excuse. She thought being on Holly's team would have ensured her a win tonight.

"I am smart," Holly insisted, as smug as they come. "Just not 5th grade teenybopper smart."

"Whoa! Easy there, Doc! No need to make fun of the trivia cards," Dov scoffed as if slighted at the somewhat backhanded comment, although he didn't take it too personally.

Holly snorted. "I'm sorry, but I don't think it's a crime that I don't know who Milo Cyrus is," Holly said seriously.

"Miley!" Gail and Dov both said loudly and in unison for what would be the third time that night, though this time Holly was just pulling their leg for her own amusement.

Holly raised her hands in mock defense. "Sorry, my bad, anyway I think it's time for me to be heading home. Big day ahead of me tomorrow," she smirked.

Gail's chin hit her chest as Holly pushed out her chair from the table and stood up, smiling at Gail's obvious anxiety.

"It was nice meeting you, Holly." Dov stood up and shook the hand Holly had offered him while she nodded at him in return.

"Did anyone need a ride?" Holly asked. Dov shook his head but Gail nodded and stood up.

"Chloe should be back with the car shortly. I am going to stay at her place tonight," Dov advised Gail of his plans.

"Tell someone who cares, dork," she snarked back, swinging her bag over her shoulder.

"Sore loser," Dov replied before turning to Holly. "We should do this again sometime."

Before Holly had a chance to answer him Gail had taken hold of her wrist, forcibly pulling her away from the table and across the bar.

"Looks like you're already getting in some practice there, Gail," Dov commented, which caused Gail to look down at the offending hand that was awfully close to holding Holly's.

Ignoring Dov and dropping Holly's wrist, Gail made her way towards the exit while Holly followed closely behind, however, she looked back in Dov's direction offering him an apologetic smile.

"Don't forget I want pictures, Gail!" Dov called out as both women exited The Penny and stepped out into the crisp night air.

Internally cursing Dov, Gail crossed her arms to keep herself warm as she followed Holly to her car. Once inside, Holly switched the heater on and Gail leaned forward to turn on the radio, not even needing to change the station as it was already set from the last time she was in Holly's car, Holly having never really used it before.

The car trip had been relatively quiet until they turned onto Gail's street. "You don't like losing do you?" Holly commented, flipping the indicator.

"Find me someone who does, Holly," Gail pointed out as she looked aimlessly out her window, smirking as Miley Cyrus came onto the radio.

"Good point," Holly nodded before glancing at Gail. "We don't have to do this you know. No one will know."

Gail turned in her seat to face Holly. "But I'll know, and I am pretty sure Dov had you pegged too. You're too honest not to, Hol." Holly smiled. She would take that as a compliment. "Besides I am not sure I can take looking at your guilt ridden face again," Gail admitted.

Gail had unfortunately seen this particularly anguished expression of Holly's just last week. Holly was picking Gail up at work and she had quickly informed her that she had hit a bird with her car. It was actually heartbreaking to look at.

"I would have loved to have seen Dov and Chris even attempt to hold hands for," Gail paused, forgetting, "how long is it for again?"

"Twelve hours."

"You are going to be so sick of me tomorrow," Gail laughed uncomfortably, worried that this may in fact become a reality. "At least we can stay at your place all day." They hadn't spent more than three hours at a time together, not counting that the time they first met and she had spent most the day down in the morgue.

"Actually, here's the thing," Holly pulled up outside Gail's place. She looked at Gail and sucked in her bottom lip, "I have a lot of errands to do tomorrow, including buying a new bed at Ikea, so we are going to be out for, well, a while." Gail sat silently, looking like she was processing this new information while Holly started to think the worst. "Look, I don't want you to be embarrassed about holding my hand in public. You probably don't even like PDA, and you're not my girlfriend and hand holding can be a very personal-"

Gail put her hand on Holly's arm which stopped her from talking and then she slid it down Holly's forearm and squeezed. "Hey," Gail said gently and Holly looked up. "That is ridiculous, don't even think that, okay? It's just- how the hell are we going buy and transport a bed if we are holding hands?"

"They deliver."

"Oh good," Gail sighed, pleased that there would be no heavy lifting.

"Though it will prove difficult when we begin setting it up in the afternoon."

"You've got to be shitting me?" Gail tilted her head to the side, looking very unimpressed.

"I broke my bed this morning," Holly cheekily grinned, raising her shoulders. "I will be sleeping on the couch tonight."

"I am not even going to ask how you broke it."

"Good, because I hadn't planned on telling you," Holly said, adding to the mystery. The truth was this morning she leapt stomach first across the top of her bed chasing after her cat Lucy effectively snapping it in half, though Gail didn't need to know that.

Gail eyed her curiously and said, "Anyway, thanks for the lift," she smiled, pressing down on the door handle. "I'll see you at 8am sharp."

"See you then."

Gail hopped out of the car and watched Holly drive away. As she walked the footpath up to the frat house, she couldn't wipe the glowing smile off her face. She was actually starting to look forward to holding Holly's hand all day.

At 7:58am the next day Gail was knocking on Holly's front door, nervously wiping her sweaty palms against her jeans.

"Good morning," Holly greeted her, anxiously biting her lip as she stepped out onto the doorstep to stand beside Gail. "So, um are you ready then?" Holly looked at her feet as she awkwardly stepped from one to the other.

Involuntarily still smiling, Gail held her hand out, palm up. "Just hold my hand already, Lunchbox," Gail shook her head, taking a step back as Holly locked the door behind her.

At the same time, they turned on their feet and made their way down the front steps. Gail had slipped her hand into Holly's and they seemed to naturally thread their fingers together.

Holly was about to say something when she felt Gail's thumb brush gently back and forth across the top of her hand, collectively sending shivers down their spines, and already proving Holly's theory to be true.

Both sensing the palpable tension in the air, they glanced inwardly at each other, however continued walking hand in hand down the footpath, only separating when they got to the car so they could climb in through their respective doors.

As Gail slid into the front passenger seat she couldn't help but wonder something. "Do you…" she paused to second guess herself.

"Do I what?" Holly asked pulling on her seatbelt before looking across at Gail who was now resting her cheek against the headrest facing her, Gail's narrowing eyes watching her curiously.

"Do you really not know who Miley Cyrus is?" Gail asked and an ambiguous smile played across Holly's lips as she shifted her focus back to the road in front of her while her forearm came to rest along the centre console. Holly held her hand open, inviting Gail's dainty fingers to join her own.

"Just hold my hand, you loser," was all Holly said and Gail swiftly obliged. She curled her fingers around Holly's as they both thought to themselves that this was this was the best bet they could ever possibly lose.


End file.
